Winter Dreams
by Coyote Laughs
Summary: The third of the Winter Trilogy.  The iCarly trio all have strange dreams, dreams that may lead to some changes between the three.


**Author's Note: The last installment of the Winter Trilogy, preceded by A Christmas Truce and Winter's Ending. Again, you don't have to read all three, but I think you will get a better appreciation of them all if you did. Also again, I do not own iCarly.**

* * *

**Winter Dreams**

Carly dreamed.

In stark black and white, she dreamed. She dreamed of walking along shores, charted by others, alone with her thoughts. She dreamed of the stage, surrounded by people, yet still alone. She dreamed of glamourous parties, mixing with the famous and the infamous, yet still there was something missing.

And then she dreamed of walking along in a snow covered park, where she spied two figures, one brown haired and one blonde. Their hands wrapped in each other, the silence comfortable, all pointed to two people perfectly in sync with each other. They walked, eyes opened, smiles on both their faces, towards a green horizon. Carly turned, her heart heavy as she walked away from her friends. The further she walked, the heavier and lonelier her heart felt. Crying out, she fell to her knees, her head buried in her hands.

Instantly she felt two presences in front of her. She looked up and she saw her best friend, a look of concern on his honest face. He was still hand in hand with her other best friend, who shared the same look. They both reached down, their touch gentle, and pulled her to her feet. Arms linked, the trio walked towards the green horizon. Smiling, she knew everything was going to be ok.

Carly gently woke up, a smile still on her face.

Sam dreamed.

A riot of colours washed through her dreams. Vivid greens and reds and blues swirled, chasing each other. A brown haired boy stood in the middle of her dream, the chaos of colours gently subsiding to gentle ebb and flow of the morning tide. It scared her, the way he seemed to master the chaos around him, so she did the only thing she did when confronted by something that scared her. She ran.

She ran, ducking and weaving through a jungle of colours. She ran along rocky shores, the chaos of the skies reflecting off of the deep blue of the sea. She ran, and she ran. But she never could escape the fact that he was still there, in the middle of her dreams. Giving in, she turned and walked towards the boy. Determined, she walked past the pinkest of hams and the tempting Bolivian bacon on the beach. She shredded the jungle of colours that dared to get in her way.

And then she stood in front of the brown haired boy. Greens and browns clung to him. A rich earthy scent filled the air around her. Her body relaxed, she smiled at him. He smiled back, and offered a hand out to her. She took it, her fingers tingling, followed by her hand, her arm, and finally the entirety of her body.

Sam gently woke up, a smile on her face.

Freddie dreamed.

He dreamed in rich copper and greens. He dreamed of the earth, his hands deep in the material of the earth, circuit boards imprinted in his head. The circuit board crept out of his brain, insidiously taking over his spinal cord. He felt his veins and arteries take on a metallic feel. The electrical impulses that once jumped over neuron pathways, now raced down the lines of a circuit.

He cried out as he felt his heart cease to beat, no longer needed by his new robotic body. He toiled like that day and night, just going through the motions of life. Time ceased to have meaning.

He looked to the green horizon and saw a riot of colours coming closer and closer. The chaos rippled through his dream, the greens and browns being disrupted by reds and yellows and blues. As it came closer, he began to feel fear. This was beyond all his experiences. He was scared. So he ran.

But no matter how fast he ran, it was catching up with him. He turned back and saw that in the center of the entropy was a blonde female. He tried to run faster.

Ba.

He felt his heart beat. It hurt, yet it felt good. Unused, it had sat fallow for too long.

Bump.

Feelings he hadn't felt in a while coursed through him. As the chaos came closer, they became more intense. Turning, tears of pain and joy in his eyes, he ran again. But instead of away, this time towards.

Ba. Bump.

A smile swept over his face as he raced towards the chaos. Blood raced through his veins, now no longer circuitry on a circuit board.

Ba-bump.

He saw the blonde clearly now. Ocean blue eyes looked upon him. The smile he knew so well graced her beautiful face. Her arms were wide opened, ready to embrace him.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

Mere feet away, he jumped, wanting to feel her arms wrapped around him.

He woke up, beads of sweat swarming his face.

Shaking his head, he reached for the bottle of water on his bed stand. He took a long pull of water, before looking at his PearPhone. 3:17 AM it read. At 3:21 AM, it rang. Briefly looking at the caller ID, he instantly took the call.

"Hi Sam." Pause. "No, you didn't wake me up. I couldn't sleep." Long pause. "Yeah, I had a strange dream too. It was weird, but good..." Pause. "I'll tell you at school later today." Pause. "Look, I promise." Pause. "You want me to talk nerdy to you?" Pause. "well, ok, if you think it'll help you sleep." He took a deep breath and began. "The current advertisement of all these 'new' 4G networks is really a misnomer. These networks are not true 4G, at least not according to the standards set forth by the International Telecommunication Union – Radiocommunication Sector. They should truly be considered as 3.9G tech, but 3.9G doesn't sound as cool as 4G. The proper name should be LTE, which stands for Long Term Evolution, and... "

"Sam?" Pause. "Sam?" Pause. "You must be asleep then. Well, good night, my Princess." He hung up the phone and then looked at it. He whispered to the phone, "You give me hope. And I think I'm falling for you..." He placed the phone back on his bed stand, and laid back in bed, his eyes slowly closing. The last thing he saw before falling back to sleep was Sam, and her smile.

* * *

Freddie got to school early, like always. He walked through the hallways of Ridgeway, mainly keeping to himself, like always. But what was different was the huge poster hung close to his locker. He stood in front of it, eyes glazed, thoughts running through his head. He didn't hear the soft footsteps behind him, but he did hear the "Hi" that Carly said into his ear.

Startled, he turned and looked at Carly. "Oh, hey. Sorry, kind of zoned off," he said.

She looked behind his shoulder over at the poster. It was almost too perfect. "You should ask her."

"Ask who?"

She sighed dramatically. "Sam."

"Ask her what?"

She shook her head and thought dark thoughts about oblivious boys. "You should ask her to the Winter Formal. And you should do it quick, too."

He looked over at her. "Ummm, yeah." He fidgeted a bit before looking back at her. "You'd be ok with it?"

She nodded. "I'd be ecstatic with it. You two mean the world to me, and I think you two mean the world to each other too. Don't try to deny it. I've seen the way you two have been acting lately towards each other. It's different, but good. Very good." She prodded him gently. "Do it now Freddie. Don't let her slip away..."

He nodded, and then spied Sam walking through the school's door. Grinning, he said, "I guess there's no time better than the present..."

Smiling back at Freddie, Carly said. "Go get her tiger..." She watched him walk away, but instead of feeling jealous or lonely, she felt good. She turned and walked towards her class, no feeling of heaviness or loneliness plaguing her this time. Knowing that her friends would always be there for her and that she would always be there for them gave her a comfort, a comfort that she never knew she had been missing.

Behind her, Freddie walked up to Sam. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" A slow smile spread across both their faces as she answered yes to both questions.

* * *

The rose bush seedling, no longer just a tiny seed, stretched out its roots. It would be rewarded for the patience that it has shown, for it's roots were now firmly rooted. The seedling's winter dreams would soon be over, to be replaced by a spring awakening.


End file.
